Quantum Measurement Scheme Research Articles

Nonlocal quantum differentiation between polarization objects using entanglement

For a wide range of applications, a fast, non-destructive, remote, and sensitive identification of samples with predefined characteristics is preferred instead of their full characterization. In this work, we report on the experimental implementation of a nonlocal quantum measurement scheme, which allows for differentiation among samples out of a predefined set of transparent and birefringent objects in a distant optical channel. The measurement is enabled by application of polarization-entangled photon pairs and is based on remote state preparation. On an example set of more than 80 objects characterized by different Mueller matrices, we show that only two coincidence measurements are already sufficient for successful discrimination. The number of measurements needed for sample differentiation is significantly decreased compared to a comprehensive polarimetric analysis. Our results demonstrate the potential of this polarization detection method for polarimetric applications in biomedical diagnostics, remote sensing, and other classification/detection tasks.

Parity-enhanced quantum optimal measurements

In quantum metrology, measurement and estimation schemes are vital for achieving higher precision, along with initial state preparation. This article presents the compound measurement of parity and particle number, which is optimal for a broad range of states named equator states (ESs). ES encompasses most pure input states used in current studies and, more significantly, a wide range of mixed states. Moreover, the ES can be prepared directly using non-demolition parity measurement. We thus propose an improved quantum phase estimation protocol applicable to arbitrary input states, ensuring precision consistently surpassing that of the standard protocol. The proposed scheme is also demonstrated using a nonlinear interferometer, with the realization of the non-demolition parity measurement in atomic condensates.

Digital Discovery of 100 diverse Quantum Experiments with PyTheus

Photons are the physical system of choice for performing experimental tests of the foundations of quantum mechanics. Furthermore, photonic quantum technology is a main player in the second quantum revolution, promising the development of better sensors, secure communications, and quantum-enhanced computation. These endeavors require generating specific quantum states or efficiently performing quantum tasks. The design of the corresponding optical experiments was historically powered by human creativity but is recently being automated with advanced computer algorithms and artificial intelligence. While several computer-designed experiments have been experimentally realized, this approach has not yet been widely adopted by the broader photonic quantum optics community. The main roadblocks consist of most systems being closed-source, inefficient, or targeted to very specific use-cases that are difficult to generalize. Here, we overcome these problems with a highly-efficient, open-source digital discovery framework PyTheus, which can employ a wide range of experimental devices from modern quantum labs to solve various tasks. This includes the discovery of highly entangled quantum states, quantum measurement schemes, quantum communication protocols, multi-particle quantum gates, as well as the optimization of continuous and discrete properties of quantum experiments or quantum states. PyTheus produces interpretable designs for complex experimental problems which human researchers can often readily conceptualize. PyTheus is an example of a powerful framework that can lead to scientific discoveries – one of the core goals of artificial intelligence in science. We hope it will help accelerate the development of quantum optics and provide new ideas in quantum hardware and technology.

Observing and Verifying the Quantum Trajectory of a Mechanical Resonator.

Continuous weak measurement allows localizing open quantum systems in state space and tracing out their quantum trajectory as they evolve in time. Efficient quantum measurement schemes have previously enabled recording quantum trajectories of microwave photon and qubit states. We apply these concepts to a macroscopic mechanical resonator, and we follow the quantum trajectory of its motional state conditioned on a continuous optical measurement record. Starting with a thermal mixture, we eventually obtain coherent states of 78% purity-comparable to a displaced thermal state of occupation 0.14. We introduce a retrodictive measurement protocol to directly verify state purity along the trajectory, and we furthermore observe state collapse and decoherence. This opens the door to measurement-based creation of advanced quantum states, as well as potential tests of gravitational decoherence models.

Two resonant quantum electrodynamics models of quantum measuring systems

A quantum measurement scheme is suggested in two resonant models of quantum electrodynamics. The first model is the brain, where, for the propagation of its action potentials, the free electron laser-like coherence mechanism recently investigated by the author is comprehensively applied. The second model is an assembly of Preparata et al.'s coherence domains, in which we incorporate the quantum field theory of memory advocated by Umezawa et al. These two models are remarkably analogous.

Reconstructing quantum entropy production to probe irreversibility and correlations

One of the major goals of quantum thermodynamics is the characterization of irreversibility and its consequences in quantum processes. Here, we discuss how entropy production provides a quantification of the irreversibility in open quantum systems through the quantum fluctuation theorem. We start by introducing a two-time quantum measurement scheme, in which the dynamical evolution between the measurements is described by a completely positive, trace-preserving (CPTP) quantum map (forward process). By inverting the measurement scheme and applying the time-reversed version of the quantum map, we can study how this backward process differs from the forward one. When the CPTP map is unital, we show that the stochastic quantum entropy production is a function only of the probabilities to get the initial measurement outcomes in correspondence of the forward and backward processes. For bipartite open quantum systems we also prove that the mean value of the stochastic quantum entropy production is sub-additive with respect to the bipartition (except for product states). Hence, we find a method to detect correlations between the subsystems. Our main result is the proposal of an efficient protocol to determine and reconstruct the characteristic functions of the stochastic entropy production for each subsystem. This procedure enables to reconstruct even others thermodynamical quantities, such as the work distribution of the composite system and the corresponding internal energy. Efficiency and possible extensions of the protocol are also discussed. Finally, we show how our findings might be experimentally tested by exploiting the state of-the-art trapped-ion platforms.

The universe remembers no wavefunction collapse

Two thought experiments are analyzed, revealing that the quantum state of the universe does not contain definitive evidence of the wavefunction collapse. The first thought experiment shows that unitary quantum evolution alone can account for the outcomes of any combination of quantum experiments. This is in contradiction with the standard view on quantum measurement, which appeals to the wavefunction collapse, but it is in full agreement with the special state proposal (L.S. Schulman in Phys Lett A 102(9):396-400, 1984; J Stat Phys 42(3):689-719 1986; Time's arrows and quantum measurement, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997) that there are some rare states that account for quantum experiments by unitary evolution alone. The second thought experiment consists in successive measurements, and reveals that the standard quantum measurement scheme predicts violations of the conservation laws. It is shown that the standard view on quantum measurements makes some unnecessary assumptions which lead to the apparent necessity to invoke wavefunction collapse. Once these assumptions are removed, a new hope of a measurement scheme emerges, which, while still having open problems, is compatible with both the unitary evolution and the conservation laws, and suggests means to experimentally distinguish between full unitarity and discontinuous collapse.

Full-counting statistics of energy transport of molecular junctions in the polaronic regime

We investigate the full-counting statistics (FCS) of energy transport carried by electrons in molecular junctions for the Anderson–Holstein model in the polaronic regime. Using the two-time quantum measurement scheme, the generating function (GF) for the energy transport is derived and expressed as a Fredholm determinant in terms of Keldysh nonequilibrium Green’s function in the time domain. Dressed tunneling approximation is used in decoupling the phonon cloud operator in the polaronic regime. This formalism enables us to analyze the time evolution of energy transport dynamics after a sudden switch-on of the coupling between the dot and the leads towards the stationary state. The steady state energy current cumulant GF in the long time limit is obtained in the energy domain as well. Universal relations for steady state energy current FCS are derived under a finite temperature gradient with zero bias and this enabled us to express the equilibrium energy current cumulant by a linear combination of lower order cumulants. The behaviors of energy current cumulants in steady state under temperature gradient and external bias are numerically studied and explained. The transient dynamics of energy current cumulants is numerically calculated and analyzed. Universal scaling of normalized transient energy cumulants is found under both temperature gradient and external bias.

Observation of the Photon-Blockade Breakdown Phase Transition

Non-equilibrium phase transitions exist in damped-driven open quantum systems, when the continuous tuning of an external parameter leads to a transition between two robust steady states. In second-order transitions this change is abrupt at a critical point, whereas in first-order transitions the two phases can co-exist in a critical hysteresis domain. Here we report the observation of a first-order dissipative quantum phase transition in a driven circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) system. It takes place when the photon blockade of the driven cavity-atom system is broken by increasing the drive power. The observed experimental signature is a bimodal phase space distribution with varying weights controlled by the drive strength. Our measurements show an improved stabilization of the classical attractors up to the milli-second range when the size of the quantum system is increased from one to three artificial atoms. The formation of such robust pointer states could be used for new quantum measurement schemes or to investigate multi-photon quantum many-body phases.

One qubit and one photon: The simplest polaritonic heat engine

Hybrid quantum systems can often be described in terms of polaritons. These are quasiparticles formed of superpositions of their constituents, with relative weights depending on some control parameter in their interaction. In many cases, these constituents are coupled to reservoirs at different temperatures. This suggests a general approach to the realization of polaritonic heat engines where a thermodynamic cycle is realized by tuning this control parameter. Here we discuss what is arguably the simplest such engine, a single qubit coupled to a single photon. We show that this system can extract work from feeble thermal microwave fields. We also propose a quantum measurement scheme of the work and evaluate its backaction on the operation of the engine.

Full-counting statistics of charge and spin transport in the transient regime: A nonequilibrium Green's function approach

We report the investigation of full-counting statistics (FCS) of transferred charge and spin in the transient regime where the connection between central scattering region (quantum dot) and leads are turned on at $t=0$. A general theoretical formulation for the generating function (GF) is presented using a nonequilibrium Green's function approach for the quantum dot system. In particular, we give a detailed derivation on how to use the method of path integral together with nonequilibrium Green's function technique to obtain the GF of FCS in electron transport systems based on the two-time quantum measurement scheme. The correct long-time limit of the formalism, the Levitov-Lesovik's formula, is obtained. This formalism can be generalized to account for spin transport for the system with noncollinear spin as well as spin-orbit interaction. As an example, we have calculated the GF of spin-polarized transferred charge, transferred spin, as well as the spin transferred torque for a magnetic tunneling junction in the transient regime. The GF is compactly expressed by a functional determinant represented by Green's function and self-energy in the time domain. With this formalism, FCS in spintronics in the transient regime can be studied. We also extend this formalism to the quantum point contact system. For numerical results, we calculate the GF and various cumulants of a double quantum dot system connected by two leads in transient regime. The signature of universal oscillation of FCS is identified. On top of the global oscillation, local oscillations are found in various cumulants as a result of the Rabi oscillation. Finally, the influence of the temperature is also examined.

Universal departure from Johnson-Nyquist relation caused by limited resolution

Exploiting the two-point measurement statistics, we propose a quantum measurement scheme of current with limited resolution of electron counting. Our scheme is equivalent to the full counting statistics in the long-time measurement with the ideal resolution, but is theoretically extended to take into account the resolution limit of actual measurement devices. Applying our scheme to a resonant level model, we show that the limited resolution of current measurement gives rise to a positive excess noise, which leads to a deviation from the Johnson-Nyquist relation. The deviation exhibits universal single-parameter scaling with the scaling variable $Q\ensuremath{\equiv}{S}_{\mathrm{M}}/{S}_{0}$, which represents the degree of the insufficiency of the resolution. Here, ${S}_{0}$ is the intrinsic noise, and ${S}_{\mathrm{M}}$ is the positive quantity that has the same dimension as ${S}_{0}$ and is defined solely by the measurement scheme. For the lack of the ideal resolution, the deviation emerges for $Q<1$ as $2exp[\ensuremath{-}{(2\ensuremath{\pi})}^{2}/Q]$ having an essential singularity at $Q=0$, which followed by the square root dependence $\sqrt{Q/4\ensuremath{\pi}}$ for $Q\ensuremath{\gg}1$. Our findings offer an explanation for the anomalous enhancement of noise temperature observed in Johnson noise thermometry.

Cosmological neutrino entropy changes due to flavor statistical mixing

Entropy changes due to delocalization and decoherence effects should modify the predictions for the cosmological neutrino background (CνB) temperature when one treats neutrino flavors in the framework of composite quantum systems. Assuming that the final stage of neutrino interactions with the radiation plasma before decoupling works as a measurement scheme that projects neutrinos into flavor quantum states, the resulting free-streaming neutrinos can be described as a statistical ensemble of flavor-mixed states. Even not corresponding to an electronic-flavor pure state, after decoupling the statistical ensemble is described by a density matrix that evolves in time with the full Hamiltonian accounting for flavor mixing, momentum delocalization and, in case of an open-quantum-system approach, decoherence effects. Depending on the quantum measurement scheme used for quantifying the entropy, mixing associated to dissipative effects can lead to an increase of the flavor-associated von Neumann entropy for free-streaming neutrinos. The production of the von Neumann entropy mitigates the constraints on the predictions for energy densities and temperatures of a cosmologically evolving isentropic fluid, in this case, the cosmological neutrino background. Our results state that the quantum mixing associated to decoherence effects are fundamental for producing an additive quantum entropy contribution to the cosmological neutrino thermal history. According to our framework, it does not modify the predictions for the number of neutrino species, . It can only relieve the constraints between and the temperature ratio, , by introducing a novel ingredient to re-direct the interpretation of some recent tantalizing evidence that is significantly larger than by more than 3.

QUANTUM MEASUREMENT SCHEMES RELATED TO FLAVOR-WEIGHTED ENERGIES

The framework of the generalized theory of quantum measurement provides some theoretical tools for computing flavor associated energies correlated to the von-Neumann entropy of a composed system. After defining flavor-averaged and flavor-weighted energies, that are respectively supported by nonselective (selective) quantum measurement schemes, the right correlation between the energies of flavor eigenstates and their measurement probabilities can be obtained. Our results from the composed quantum system framework show that the nonselective measurement scheme for computing flavor-weighted energies is consistent with predictions from single-particle quantum mechanics. As an application of our results, through the expressions for neutrino effective mass values, it is straightforwardly verified that cosmological background neutrino energy densities could be obtained from the coherent superposition of mass eigenstates.

The C[formula omitted]B energy density through the quantum measurement theory

We apply concepts from the quantum measurement theory to obtain some cosmological neutrino background (CνB) properties and discuss their relevance in defining theoretical bounds on cosmological neutrino energy density. Describing three neutrino generations as a composite quantum system through the generalized theory of quantum measurement provides us with the probabilistic correlation between observable energies and neutrino flavor eigenstates. By observing that flavor-averaged and flavor-weighted energies are the quantum observables respectively generated by selective and non-selective quantum measurement schemes, it is possible to identify the constraints on the effective mass value expression that determines the neutrino contribution to the energy density of the cosmic inventory. Our results agree with the quantum mechanics viewpoint that asserts that the cosmological neutrino energy density is obtained from a coherent sum of mass eigenstate energies, for normal and inverted mass hierarchies.

Weak measurement with orthogonal preselection and postselection

Weak measurement is a novel quantum measurement scheme, which is usually characterized by the weak value formalism. To guarantee the validity of the weak value formalism, the fidelity between the pre-selection and the post-selection should not be too small generally. In this work, we study the weak measurement on a qubit system with exactly or asymptotically orthogonal pre- and post-selections. We shall establish a general rigorous framework for the weak measurement beyond the weak value formalism, and obtain the average output of a weak measurement when the pre- and post-selections are exactly orthogonal. We shall also study the asymptotic behavior of a weak measurement in the limiting process that the pre- and post-selections tend to be orthogonal.

Notes on von Neumann measurement scheme

A quantum measurement scheme devised by von Neumann plays a central role in all considerations relevant to the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. Despite the fact that the scheme ultimately did not reach the anticipated goal, a view is still maintained, that at least the very approach to the solution of the problem is correct and does not rise any doubts about its consistency. However, a little critical check of a validity of the key assumptions, lying in the foundations of the scheme, casts some shadow on its physically unimpeachable status. Speaking explicitly, the use of such physically bad established notions as a quantization of a purely macroscopic object and an “ideal” measurement, although embodied in the proper mathematical formalism of quantum theory, as well as the over-simplified interpretation of the theory, characterize this measurement scheme as a purely theoretical construction, which is far away from the situation occurring in the case of real measurements.

QUBITS AND QUANTUM SPACES

We consider the quantum computational process as viewed by an insider observer: this is equivalent to an isomorphism between the quantum computer and a quantum space, namely the fuzzy sphere. The result is the formulation of a reversible quantum measurement scheme, with no hidden information.

Experimental demonstration of optimal unambiguous state discrimination

We present a full demonstration of unambiguous state discrimination between nonorthogonal quantum states. Using a free-space interferometer we have realized the optimum quantum measurement scheme for two nonorthogonal states of light, known as the Ivanovic-Dieks-Peres (IDP) measurement. We have gained access to all three possible outcomes of this measurement. All aspects of this generalized measurement scheme, including its superiority over a standard von Neumann measurement, have been demonstrated within 1.5% of the IDP predictions.

Experimental Realization of a Quantum Measurement for Intensity Difference Fluctuation Using a Beam Splitter

A new quantum measurement scheme of intensity difference fluctuation between two light beams of equal mean intensity is presented. In this system a beam splitter is used as the coupling device and the twin beams with high quantum correlation are injected into its dark port as the input meter wave instead of the usual vacuum field. A measurement satisfying all the quantum nondemolition criteria is experimentally achieved. The measured sum of the transfer coefficients and the conditional variance are, respectively, ${T}_{s}{+T}_{m}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1.31$ and ${V}_{s/m}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\ensuremath{-}2.1\mathrm{dB}$.